Let’s assume that we are in the future and we sell spaceships. We want to find out what class of a spaceship each country has bought basing on our table of unique spaceship classes.
Combine all unique values within group | Excel Power Query 04
With Power Query, this task is very simple. We have to select our main table, then go to the Data tab and choose the From Table/Range command in order to export our data from Excel to Power Query (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1 Exporting data to Power Query
Since we are interested which country has bought which spaceship, we want to group our data by the country. We have to select the Country column and go to the Home tab (1) and choose the Group By command (2). In the window, we need to choose the Advanced option (3) because we want to add more aggregation. I want to count how many ships each country has bought as well as know the spaceship class names. Since there isn’t any proper operation, let’s choose the Sum option (4), which we will modify later in the code. In the column bar, we’re choosing the Ship class (5). As a final step, let’s write a new name, which is going to be ‘Unique ship classes’ (6) (Fig. 2)
Fig. 2 Data grouping
In the new table, there are some errors in the last column, because we wanted to sum up text, which is impossible. It means that we need to modify our code. We need to go to the View (1) tab and tick the Formula bar checkbox (2). We can see that the formula uses the List.Sum function (3) (Fig. 3)
Fig. 3 Formula bar
What we want to do is combine all values, so let’s change the List.Sum into the Text.Combine function (1). We also need to add a separator, which will be a comma and a space (2) (Fig. 4)
Fig. 4 Code modification
Now, we can see that Power Query has changed its calculations. All ship classes are combined. However, as I said before, we need only unique values without repeats. We just need to add one function, which is the List.Distinct function. (Fig. 5)
Fig. 5 List.Distinct function
Now, we can see there are no repeats. We can go to the Home tab (1) and to the Close & Load command (2) and the Close & Load to option (3) (Fig. 6)
Fig. 6 Going back to Excel
In Excel, we have to remember to select the Table (1) and Existing worksheet (2) radio buttons. Then choose a target cell (Fig. 7)
Fig. 7 Data importing
As we can see, we have counted how many ships each country has bought as well as the product class (Fig. 8)
Today, we want to find all file names from a folder.
List of file names from a folder | Excel Power Query 05
Let’s see our folder. We have different kinds of files and even a subfolder. There is also an empty folder called Empty, which must stay empty. Our task is to find all files connected to Excel, which means that we will need to do some filtering (Fig. 1)
Fig. 1 Folder content
We know the path, so we can copy it, then go to Excel, and then use Power Query, which is the simplest solution I know. We need to go the Data tab (1), then to the Get Data command (2), then to the From File (3) and From Folder (4) options (Fig. 2)
Fig. 2 From Folder option
In the new window, we can find our folder, for example, by the navigation bar, where we can paste the whole path and press Open (Fig. 3)
Fig. 3 Navigation bar
We can see that Power Query has prepared a whole batch of information from the given folder, as well as from the Subfolder for us. We don’t see the Empty folder, because there aren’t any files. In our situation, it’s fine for us. Then, we need to click on the Transform Data button (Fig. 4)
Fig. 4 Information prepared by Power Query
The Transform Data option gives us the chance to add some filtering to get the data we are interested in. In the window that appeared, we can see that we can filter the information by the Folder Path (1). If we are interested only in the main folder, we can check only the main folder (2) (Fig. 5)
Fig. 5 Filtering by the Folder Path
However, we want all folders, together with the Subfolder, so let’s close this filtering and go to the Extension filtering. Since we are interested in Excel files, we are looking for the ones with an .xls extension. Remember that Power Query is case sensitive, so if we have some suspicions that there may be some upper case letters, we have to transform our Extension column. We need to go to the Transform tab, then to the format command and the lowercase option (Fig. 6)
Fig. 6 Lowercase option
Now, we can filter this column by Text Filters and the Begins with option (Fig. 7)
Fig. 7 Begins with option
We want the text to begin with .xls, which should get all extensions connected with Excel (Fig. 8)
Fig. 8 .xls extension
We can see that we have our chosen extensions as well as the file names also with extensions. This is the information that we needed, so let’s right click on the Name bar, and select the Remove Other Columns option (Fig. 9)
Fig. 9 Remove Other Column option
We are left only with one column, where we have file names with extensions. Sometimes, we don’t need any extensions. In those cases, we can add one more step to Power Query. We have to select the column, then go to the Transform tab, then to the Extract command and the Text Before Delimiter option (Fig. 10)
Fig. 10 Text Before Delimiter option
Our delimiter is just a dot, so let’s write it (Fig. 11)
Fig. 11 Delimiter
Now, we have only file names without extensions. However, let’s say that I still want those extensions. In such a case I need to delete this step (Fig. 12)
Fig. 12 Deleting the last filtering
Now, I go to the Home tab, click on the Close & Load command, then the Close & Load to option (Fig. 13)
Fig. 13 Going back to Excel
Let’s choose the target cell and select the Table radio button (Fig. 14)
Today, we want to learn how advanced filters work in Excel, especially between conditions.
Advanced Filters and between condition
Let’s start. When we have our dataset, we write our advanced filter conditions in cells. We need to have a header and a condition for this header. If we write conditions in one row, all of them are connected with the final criteria. It means that each condition should be met in order to take out the whole row from our dataset (1). When we add conditions to further rows, it meas that it’s an ‘or’ condition (2). In this case, we will look for strawberries or plums. If we want to create a between condition, we need to write the header two times (3) in order to create a common part. In our case, we are looking for strawberries that are equal or greater than 500 and smaller or equal to 750, and in the case of plums we want the plums that are equal or greater than 300 and smaller or equal to 500. We have to remember that those conditions should make a common part (Fig. 1)
Fig. 1 Dataset with two headers
When we want to go to advanced filters, we need to select one cell in our dataset (1), then go to the Data tab (2), then Advanced filters (3). In the Advanced filter window press the Copy to another location radio button (4), and select the criteria range (5). The last step is selecting the target cell, which will be cell E6 (6) (Fig. 2)
Fig. 2 Creating a table
Remember that if conditions are written in one row, they are combined as an ‘and’ condition, and when they are in separate rows, they are combined as an ‘or’ condition. Moreover, we can add an empty condition for different headers. But, since there isn’t any condition in the Date column, we can select the range without it. In figure 3, we can see the final table with sales of plums that are between 300 and 500 and sales of strawberries that are between 500 and 750, together with all possible dates for those conditions (Fig. 3)
Today, we want to learn how wildcards work with advanced filters.
Advanced Filters and wildcards
First of all, we have to remember that an asterisk replaces any text string, even an empty one. A question mark replaces any single character. A tilde disables a wildcard.
Let’s start with finding ‘Red’ in the Product column. To do that, we have to select one cell in our data, then go to the Data tab (1) and click on the Advanced filter command (2). In the Advanced filter window, we have to select the Copy to another location radio button (3), then write the Criteria range (4). In the Copy to bar, we select our target cell (5).
Fig. 1 Advanced filter window
After pressing OK, we have our results. In advanced filters, we don’t have a simple condition with text. This condition is not an equal condition, but a ‘starts with’ condition. In our target column, we have the ‘red’ word, however, advanced filters chose whole cells that start with ‘red’. If we want only the exact word, we have to write it with a single quote, then equals, then our word. Let’s write it. We should make another advanced filter, so let’s make the same steps as in the previous example, starting with the Data tab and changing the Criteria range to another column (1) (Fig. 2)
Fig. 2 Advanced filters with an exact word
In the target cell, we can see only one cell with DragonFly, even though there are three cells with DragonFly in our data.
Now, let’s try the asterisk option. We write an asterisk before ‘beetle’, but we have to remember that it is always connected with the ‘starts with’ option. We are working with wildcards as well as with the ‘starts with’ criteria. It works as if an asterisk was also at the end of ‘beetle’. Let’s make a proper advanced filter for this case staring with the Data tab and changing the Criteria range into another column (1) (Fig. 3)
Fig. 3 Advanced filters with an asterisk
As we can see, ‘beetle’ can be at the end, at the beginning or even in the middle of our cell.
Now, let’s work with question marks. We need to remember that one question mark represents only one sign. It can be a digit, a letter or any other sign. For example ‘Ant ? — ? mm’ cannot represent ‘Ant 6 — 10 mm’, because there are too many signs in 10. Let’s make an advanced filter for that. We start with the Data tab, and we change the Criteria range (1) and the target cell (2) (Fig. 4)
Fig. 4 Advanced filters with an asterisk
We can see that we found two cells where a question mark represented only one sign.
Now, let’s move on to a tilde. We want to find the exact phrase of ‘*Ant’. That’s why we put a tilde at the beginning. If we put only an asterisk and an Ant, like this ‘*Ant’, Excel would find any Ant, regardless of its position. The tilde makes the asterisk stop being a wildcard. We do the same as in previous cases, changing only the Criteria range and the target cell (Fig. 5)
Fig. 5 Advanced filters with a tilde
We can see that Excel found only one Ant with an asterisk at the beginning. It’s because we turned off wildcards.
Today, we want to learn about sorting by months with the SORT function.
SORT by months using functions
Let’s start with writing the SORT function, with an array as the first argument. In the second argument we need to write 2, as we want to sort by months, which are located in the second column. Now, we can close the function (Fig. 1).
=SORT(A2:C145,2)
Fig. 1 SORT function
Just like that the SORT function sorted data by the Month column. It’s important that the SORT function doesn’t consider the custom list. Excel does it, but the SORT function doesn’t. Now. let’s have a look at how we can properly sort by months using the SORT function. First of all, we cannot use the SORT function, but the SORTBY function. In this function, even if we change the second argument to a month column, we still get an ascending sorting, from A to Z. It means that the sorting is based on the alphabet, not on months of the year. The thing is we cannot do the sorting based on arguments. We need to use the MATCH function. It will look up a given month in a list of months. In the third argument we write 0, as we want to have the exact match (Fig. 2)
=MATCH(B2,$J$2:$J$13,0)
Fig. 2 MATCH function
The MATCH function starts the sorting from the top on the Month column. As we can see in column D, we have a proper number for each month. The column acts as a helper column, however, sometimes we don’t want any helper column, so we can create a helper column in our formula. We can match each month from the Month column (column B) using the MATCH function, where we need to write the lookup value in the first argument, which is our data column. In the second argument, we need to write the whole list of months on the right, then let’s write 0 as the exact match (Fig. 3)
SORTBY(A2:C145,MATCH(B2:B145,J2:J13,0))
Fig. 3 SORTBY function
It works. We see that the SORTBY function found a proper numbers for each month. It’s important that it sorts by months, not by years. However, we can add the year as well. But, I want to show you something else. First of all, if we don’t like the custom helper column list, we can just click F9 in the lookup array argument to hard code the array list in our formula (Fig. 4)
We can even delete the custom column. As we can see, it works properly. When we look at column D, we can see #N/A error. It’s because the MATCH function is trying to find months in the custom column cells which are empty (Fig. 5)
=MATCH(B2,$J$2:$J$13,0)
Fig. 5 Empty cells in the Month column
Now, let’s focus on dates based on years and months. Sometimes, our date in a dataset isn’t written only in one column, but it can be separated into the year, month and day columns. We can create a full date from the data we have. We will try it in the Helper column. First of all, we write =, then 1 combined with a month, combined with a year (Fig. 6)
=1&B2&A2
Fig. 6 Creating a date
And just like that, we combined the 1st of January 2022. Our date, however, is text. We want Excel to understand it as a date, so we just need to add parentheses and a 0 (Fig. 7)
=(1&B2&A2)+0
Fig. 7 Changing text into numbers
Excel magic has just happened! It changed text into numbers. Now, to change the numbers into dates, we need to go to the Home tab (1), then change the formatting (2) into Short Date (3) (Fig. 8)
Fig. 8 Numbers into a date
Since we have dates based on the year and the month columns, we can sort them. Let’s write the SORTBY function. In the first argument we write the data column, and in the second column we have to combine 1 with the Month column, then with the Year column. When we close the parentheses we need to add 0 to change text values into numbers (Fig. 9)
=SORTBY(A2:C145,(1&B2:B145&A2:A145)+0)
Fig. 9 SORTBY function
Now, we have only six Januaries at the beginning, because we have have only six Januaries in 2022. Next six Januaries are in 2023. This way we sorted our data by months and years using a helper column.
